Episode 116 Eggheads

These people are amongst the greatest quiz players in Britain.

Together they make up the Eggheads,

arguably the most formidable quiz team in the country.

The question is, can they be beaten?

Welcome to Eggheads, the show where a team of quiz Challengers

pit their wits against possibly the greatest quiz team in Britain.

They are the Eggheads.

And challenging our resident quiz champions today are...

This team of friends quiz together every Thursday

in the Robert De Mortain pub in Hastings. Let's meet them.

Hi. I'm Steve, I'm 37 and I'm a management accountant.

Hi. I'm Melanie. I'm 37 and I'm a civil servant.

Hi. I'm Lee. I'm 36 and I'm a primary school teacher.

Hi. I'm Sue, I'm 37 and I'm a ward clerk.

Hi. My name's Trevor. I'm 35 and I'm an accountant.

-So, Steve and team, welcome.

-Hi.

-Hiya.

-And tell us about the pub and what the quiz is like there.

We've been going about five years now.

We did it, like, at Christmas for a laugh.

Enjoyed it, did quite well, thought, "We'll carry on with that."

The rest is history. Been going virtually every week

for the last five years, and not done too bad.

OK, Robert de Mortain. Have we got any Eggs who know who he is or was?

That's a good start. That is a good start. Hang on, Kevin.

Sounds like something to do with William the Conqueror,

one of his followers.

A follower of William the Conqueror?

-He was his half-brother, I believe.

-His half-brother.

-As always, Kevin...

-He was veering the right way.

-He was veering, but he wasn't quite there, so, I think...

-Encouraging.

It is a good omen.

Every day, there's £1,000 worth of cash up for grabs

for our Challengers, but if they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

the prize money rolls over to the next show, and it all adds up.

And I can tell you, A Mortain To Climb,

they've won the last 26.

So £27,000 says you can't beat them today.

The upside is, the jackpot is big.

The downside is, it means they are on quite wicked form at the moment.

The first head-to-head battle will be on the subject of Music.

So who would like this?

-Music...

-It's going to be you.

-It's got to be Melanie, hasn't it?

-Melanie?

-You're the best on music out of all of us.

-It's going to be one of Lee or Melanie.

-Me or you.

-One of you two.

-Erm... Shall I go?

-Do you want to go in, just in case?

-I think, because you have more rounds that you can do.

-Yup.

-OK.

-Yeah, OK.

-Melanie.

OK, against which Egghead? Any one of them.

I think should we go for...

-Barry?

-Barry, yeah.

-Yeah.

-We'll go for Barry.

Right. Melanie from A Mortain To Climb

against Barry from the Eggheads. To ensure there's no conferring,

would you please take your positions in the question room?

So, Melanie, you love to walk and to cook?

Yes, both. I have to do the walking to burn off all the cooking.

Cos I read you were one of the most successful slimmers

-in the last year or so.

-MELANIE LAUGHS

It wasn't as recent as that,

but I did lose 7 stone after having my first baby.

-Er...

-That's amazing.

I now need to do the same again after having my second baby.

So what tips can you give us all?

Barry is looking...he's looking on quite interested.

There's a Chinese restaurant near here. He and Chris are in it every night.

With Chinese, you need to have boiled rice, not fried.

-That's a good start.

-Good stuff, Melanie. Good luck against Barry.

Lots of money being played for here.

-Melanie, would you like to go first or second?

-I'll go first.

And here we go. What is the largest and lowest-pitched

of orchestral brass instruments?

I don't think it's the trumpet.

So I'll rule that one out straight away.

Trying to decide...

I think I'll go with...

the tuba.

Tuba is the right answer, Melanie. Well done.

Barry, the composer Gustav Holst was born in Cheltenham in which year?

I believe he wrote the Planet Suite, and I think he wrote that

just before the First World War,

so that would rule out 1914. I believe the answer's 1874.

1874 is correct, Barry.

Melanie, back to you.

The 2011 UK number one single, We Found Love,

by Rihanna, featured which artist and producer?

I think I know that one straight away.

I'm going to go straight for Calvin Harris.

Do you know this one, Barry?

I'd have gone for David Guetta.

Calvin Harris is the right answer. Well done.

OK. Over to our Egghead.

In the title of the song that includes the lines,

"She has eyes that folks adore so

"and a torso even more so,"

how is Lydia described?

Ah. I believe Lydia is The Tattooed Lady.

She is the Tattooed Lady, well done.

OK, Melanie. On to you. So, two points each.

The 1984 album, Brilliant Trees,

was the first solo album by which musician?

I'm not sure I've even heard of David Sylvian.

So...I think I will go for...

Just based on just something that's directed me that way

and probably completely wrong, but I'm going to go for Peter Gabriel.

It's not Peter Gabriel.

David Sylvian was the lead singer of Japan

and this is David Sylvian.

Your question, Barry, to take the round.

Ritchie Blackmore became famous playing which instrument

with the rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow?

Ah. I could have managed that he played in Deep Purple.

Ritchie Blackmore.

I really can't remember what instrument he played.

So it's going to have to be a guess.

Ritchie Blackmore, Ritchie Blackmore.

-Guitar.

-Guitar is the right answer.

BOTH LAUGH

I suppose with a rock band, yeah, it's more likely than the others.

Barry, well done. Sorry, Melanie, he's knocked you out.

So you won't be in the final and our first Egghead will.

But there's plenty of time to turn it around.

Please both of you come back here and rejoin your teams.

The Challengers have lost one brain from the Final Round

and the Eggheads have lost no brains so far. Let's see what happens next.

It's Science we turn to. Who would like this?

-What do you think?

-No strength of mine. But if politics comes up...

If history comes up, Sue can do it.

-I can do Science.

-Shall we send Lee, then?

Yeah, if you're OK.

-I think it's going to be me.

-Took a while there.

Who would you like to take on?

Erm, well I did ask my class who they'd like me to take on.

And I think it was Judith, if that's all right?

OK. So, Lee from A Mortain To Climb versus Judith from the Eggheads.

To ensure there's no conferring, please go to the question room.

So, Lee, you're a teacher?

Yes, that's right. Primary school.

I teach year 6, 10 and 11-year-old children.

-That stressful?

-Busy.

Quite manic all the time.

It has its moments but it's really rewarding.

It's one of those jobs that you do because you love it.

-So I definitely do.

-And you unwind by doing oil paintings?

That's right, yeah. I've been learning for about three years now.

Mainly landscapes. But it's just a nice, relaxing day

away from planning and marking and those sorts of things.

When you say learning, do you mean how you apply the oils and all that?

Yeah, that's right. There are classes that I go to

and they teach you different techniques for applying

the different types of oils. Then I'm starting to do some at home as well,

which is good. It seems to be going well at the moment.

My nan certainly likes them, which is good.

Well, good luck in this round.

I'll ask each of you three questions on science in turn,

and obviously the one who wins goes through to the final.

Lee, you can choose the first or the second set.

I'll go first, please.

Here we go with your first set.

Which common type of computer programme

is designed to perform mathematical functions on a grid of figures

arranged in rows and columns?

Very complicated question, there.

I think I'm going to rule out personal information manager.

Erm...

I think word processing mainly is to do with text,

so I think I'm going to go with spreadsheet.

And you are absolutely right. It's spreadsheet.

Judith. In the term AI,

that refers to the development of computer systems

to perform tasks usually requiring human abilities,

what does the letter A stand for?

I think it's artificial.

Do you know what AI stands for?

Artificial intelligence.

-Yeah, that's right. Artificial is right.

-Yes. Phew.

Second question to you, Lee.

Sedge, reed and Cetti's are types of which bird

sometimes found in Britain?

I'm afraid to say, this is probably going to have to be

a bit of a guess, because I'm not very into birdwatching.

I don't really know a lot about birds at all.

Erm...

I've certainly heard of a warbler and a lark.

I haven't heard of a plover.

So I'll probably go for one of the two that I've heard of.

Erm...

I think I probably will go for a warbler. A warbler.

Well done. You've got it right. A warbler is correct, Lee.

OK, Judith, your question.

Which state of matter is typically created by the ionisation of a gas?

By the ionisation of? I don't even know what that means.

JUDITH SIGHS

I...it's awful. I don't really understand the question.

So it's a guess.

-I...oh, plasma.

-Plasma is correct.

-Phew.

-Down the right, eh?

JUDITH LAUGHS

OK, third question to Lee.

The medical term "alalia" refers to the loss of which ability?

Erm...

I think I'm going to rule out sight.

Erm... so I'll narrow it down to speech and smell.

Erm...

Again, this is a bit of a guess.

But I think I'll go for smell.

Let's see if Judith knows this. Is he right?

I think it's speech.

Yeah, it's speech, Lee.

As a teacher, you do not want to have alalia.

Judith. Jeremiah Horrocks, who died at the age of 22 in 1641,

was an early British pioneer in which field?

I don't think they thought about psychology in those days.

1641.

I really don't think psychology came into it.

So I think it's astronomy. And I'm not sure genetics did.

Or maybe...

I think I'm going to say genetics.

Genetics is your answer.

-And it's wrong.

-Mmm.

It's Astronomy, as it happens.

-I thought that was too obvious.

-We're equal after three questions,

so we go to sudden death.

Lee, she's let you off the hook there.

Gets a bit harder now. I don't give you alternatives, OK?

In anatomy, which gland in the human body is also

called the hypophysis?

Erm...

That's a tricky one. Erm...

I'm just trying to think of all the glands in the body.

Erm...

I had a name there, and it's just gone again. Erm...

I'm going to...

guess at the pineal?

-No, it's the pituitary.

-Pituitary! I knew it began with a P.

Pituitary gland.

Judith, your question.

What name was given to the subatomic particle,

first postulated by Wolfgang Pauli,

that has no electric charge and very little mass?

-A neutron.

-Neutron is wrong. It's neutrino.

-Oh, neutrino.

-Italian for little neutron.

-Oh!

Lee, your question. Let's see if we can get this one right.

To which continent is the rodent called the coypu native?

Er, coypu. Erm...

I probably would narrow it down to perhaps Africa or South America.

Erm...

And I think I'll go for South America.

South America is the right answer, Lee. Well done. Well done.

and let's see if Judith gets this right or wrong.

Magnetite is a mineral form of an oxide of what metal?

-Iron.

-Iron is the right answer.

You're level pegging on Sudden Death. Lee, back to you.

Bellatrix is a star in which constellation?

Erm...

I'm going to go for Orion.

Orion is the right answer. Well done.

The Hunter. Judith, up against the ropes here.

The milky fluid composed of lymph and digestive fat

and produced in the small intestine during digestion

is known as what?

I don't know. Erm...

I've no idea.

Have a guess if you want.

-I can't.

-You can't even have a guess?

-No.

-All right. So you've passed?

-Mm-hmm.

-OK. Eggs, do you know?

-Is that chyme?

-Chyle.

-What?

-C-H-Y-L-E.

-Well, no wonder.

-Chyle.

Well done, Lee, you've knocked out an Egghead.

Good news for your team. You can be in the Final Round.

Judith, you've been knocked out.

And, sorry about that, you'll be in the Sin Bin.

Please, both of you, come back and rejoin us here.

As it stands, the Challengers have lost one brain.

The Eggheads have also lost one brain from the Final Round.

And the next subject for you is Arts & Books.

So who would like this?

-ALL LAUGH

-Arts & Books.

-Not a debate, that one.

-Who's that, Sue?

-Yeah.

-Against which Egghead?

Can't be Judith or Barry.

What do you think? Do you want Chris?

-I trust Lee's judgment.

-Go for Chris.

-Go for Chris?

-Yeah.

-Chris, please.

-Chris, OK.

So, Sue from The Mortain To Climb versus Chris from the Eggheads,

please take your positions.

-Sue, I gather you love to read?

-I do love to read.

-One fiction and one non-fiction simultaneously, or...?

-Yep.

Because they sort of stimulate different parts of my brain.

Are you reading on an electronic reader

or are you reading in real paper?

Well, both, but my husband bought me an electronic reader

for my birthday recently,

and, much to my surprise, I've found that I really like it.

That's great. And also you've got a quiz thing going on on your phone,

-haven't you?

-I have. I blame Melanie and Steve entirely

-for recommending it to me.

-It's a quiz app?

-It is.

-Does have any of the pictures of the Eggheads on it?

-I'm afraid not.

-So that's another advantage.

THEY LAUGH

Good luck. I'll ask each of you three questions on Arts & Books in turn.

-Sue, you can choose the first or second set.

-First, please.

Here we go. In Enid Blyton's Noddy books,

what type of creature is Big Ears?

A Brownie, a Troll or a Hobbit?

Well, I have read a few Enid Blyton books as a child,

Erm, and I'm pretty certain I didn't come across any Hobbits in them.

Erm, so I'm going to say a brownie.

Brownie is the right answer. Well done.

Chris, your question.

The award-winning writer Alice Walker was born in which country?

Alice Walker, she's from New Zealand, I think.

-She's not. She's from the USA.

-Is she indeed?

So, well done, Sue. You're already ahead.

The Big Ears question has moved you into the lead.

Which artist's 1918 painting,

entitled We Are Making A New World,

depicted the blasted landscape of a First World War battlefield?

Er...I know very little about art, as it happens.

Erm...so, I think all I can do is

go with the name which is familiar to me, which is Walter Sickert.

It's not Walter Sickert. It's Paul Nash.

Chris, to catch up.

The French dramatist Jean Anouilh

wrote an acclaimed 1959 play with a title taken from the name

of which figure in British history?

Surely that's Becket.

Surely it is Becket. You're right. So you're equal now.

Your third question, Sue.

In Sir Walter Scott's novel, Ivanhoe,

what is Ivanhoe's first name?

I read this about 100 years ago.

It's on the tip of my tongue.

Er...

I'm going to go for...

William, I think.

Eggheads, is she right?

-Wilfred.

-Wilfred.

-Wilfred, they all say. It's Wilfred Ivanhoe.

Sue, so Chris has a chance to take the round on this question.

TS Eliot's first poetry collection, published in 1917,

was entitled Prufrock And Other... What?

He later wrote The Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock, didn't he?

I think it's Prufrock And Other Observations.

The correct answer is Observations.

So, Chris, after three questions you have got your place in the final.

Sorry, Sue.

-Didn't fall your way.

-Oh well.

-And Chris is in the final and you're not.

And please come back, both of you, and we'll play on.

So, the Challengers have lost two brains,

the Eggheads have lost just the one from the Final Round.

And the last subject before the Final is Sport.

-You got a sporting person?

-CHALLENGERS LAUGH

Do you want it, Trev?

-It's me.

-Steve. OK, against which Egghead?

Pat or Kevin?

I've got to go for it. I've got to go for it. I'll take on Kevin.

You've got go for it. OK, so Steve from Mortain To Climb

versus Kevin from the Eggheads.

Please take your positions now.

I'll ask each of you three questions on Sport.

Steve, would you like the first or the second set?

I'll go first, please.

All right, Steve. Good luck. Martin O'Neill was appointed manager

of which Premier League football club in 2011?

Nice football question to start.

That is my specialist sport, thank goodness.

I know it's not Blackburn,

cos they've had a few problems with their manager.

Fulham, I know the manager as well,

but his name skips my mind at the moment.

I'm pretty certain it's Sunderland

and he turned round their fortunes very well.

Sunderland is the right answer, Steve. Well done.

Kevin, your question.

In Rugby Union, prop forwards usually wear jerseys

with the number 1 and which other number?

They're either side of the hooker, who's number 2.

So it's number 3.

3 is correct.

Back to you, Steve.

In which role is Alister MacKenzie famous in the history of golf?

Mmm. Right.

I do enjoy golf, but normally the playing side,

rather than the logistics of it all.

Alister MacKenzie?

As it's a Scottish sounding name,

and it's got its roots in the game,

it's...I'm going to rule out journalist.

He's either going to be a coach or a course designer.

I reckon. Erm...

Alister MacKenzie.

I will go coach.

-No, it's course designer.

-Oh.

Course designer.

Kevin, your question to take the lead.

Which cricketer captained England on his test debut in 1972?

Now, that I really don't know.

I don't think it would've been David Ll...well.

He came to test cricket relatively late,

so he's a possibility. His great year was...'75.

Did very well in the series that year.

I'm torn between the other two, I have to say.

I shall try Tony Lewis, but with no confidence.

-Tony Lewis is the right answer.

-Oh. OK.

I don't know. I was more confident than you, Kevin.

I think we all were.

Third question. You've got to get this right, Steve.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway

has permanent seating for roughly how many spectators?

I was worried an American-based sport might come up.

I'm going to rule out 3 quarters of a million immediately,

cos that's an impressive capacity.

Erm, 95,000's about the population, erm, the capacity of Wembley.

But the track is quite large. I'm going to go for 250,000.

250,000 is the right answer. Very well done.

You got there really unerringly. Well done.

Kevin, to take the round.

The Dutch race called The Elfstedentocht,

that took place 15 times between 1909 and 2011,

is for participants in which sport?

That translates as "eleven towns".

Competition. So this is something that's moving between town and town.

If it's only taken place 15 times over almost 100 years...

over 100 years.

It implies...

that it's something that'd only take place in certain conditions.

So that would imply it's something to do with the ice.

I'm going to go for ice-skating.

That's why you're brilliant. Ice-skating is the right answer.

You're in the final, Kevin. Well done. Sorry, Steve.

-That's OK.

-There we are.

Three out of three. And it means you've been knocked out.

Please, both of you, come back to us and we will play the Final Round.

This is what we have been playing towards.

It is time for the Final Round, which is General Knowledge.

Those of you who lost your Head-To-Heads

won't be allowed to take part in this round.

So Steve, Melanie and Sue,

from A Mortain To Climb,

and Judith from the Eggheads,

would you please leave the studio.

So, Lee and Trevor, you're playing to win A Mortain To Climb £27,000.

Don't look so worried.

Kevin, Pat, Barry and Chris, you're playing for something that money can't buy,

the Eggheads' reputation.

As usual, I will ask each team three questions in turn.

The questions are all General Knowledge and you can confer.

So, Lee and Trevor, the question is,

are your two brains better than the Eggheads' four?

-And do you want to go first or second?

-We'll go first, please.

Here we go. Good luck. £27,000 is the jackpot.

Which best-selling series of computer games,

created by Will Wright and launched in 2000,

concerns guiding the everyday lives of fictional characters?

-The Sims?

-I think, definitely, yeah. I would say that was the Sims.

-Yeah.

-We'll go with the Sims.

-The Sims is the right answer. Nice one.

Eggheads, your question.

What is the title of a humourous history book

by WC Sellar and RJ Yeatman that was published in 1930?

-That was this morning.

-We were discussing it this morning,

-1066 And All That.

-1066 And All That.

-That's 1066 And All That.

1066 And All That is quite right.

OK, your question.

Which architect designed the building for the Senedd,

or the National Assembly for Wales?

It's a tricky one. I'm not overly-familiar with architecture.

No.

I think, of the three... and I don't know why,

I'm just drawn to it. I'd probably go for Zaha Hadid.

-But I really don't know for sure.

-No idea either.

-So...

We'll go with Zaha Hadid, please.

It's actually Richard Rogers.

Eggheads. At the Battle of Warsaw in 1920,

Polish forces defeated the invading army of which power?

-Russia?

-Russia, yeah. The fledgling Soviet Union, at the time.

That was Russia, Jeremy.

Russia is the right answer!

Now, third question.

If you get this one wrong, the contest is over.

Raoul Wallenberg, who became famous for his role

in rescuing thousands of Jews from Nazi Europe,

was born in which country?

My instinct is heading towards Switzerland,

-but there's no particular reason why.

-Yeah.

I would go... I don't know the answer,

-but I think I'd rule out Norway.

-Yeah.

-I think, if you're drawn to Switzerland, we could...

-Yeah?

-Yep.

-Yeah. Switzerland.

Switzerland is your answer. Are they right?

-No, it's Sweden.

-Sweden is the answer.

So, no way back, Challengers.

I'm sorry. We have to say congratulations, Eggheads.

You have won.

Sweden, Switzerland.

-Narrowed it down to those two.

-Narrowed it down to those two.

-Picked the wrong one.

I'm sorry. The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them

and their winning streak continues. Really impressive now.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £27,000.

So the money rolls over to our next show.

Eggheads, many congratulations. Who will beat you?

Do you know? I don't think it's going to happen.

Join us next time to see if a new team of Challengers

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£28,000 says they don't. Are we going to get to 30?

Till then, goodbye.

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